TO    THE   PEOPLE,   OF   TEE  SE-   should  they  be  subjected   to  this  malig- 

CO'xi)    CONGRESSIONAL    LIS-   nant  cri,icism.?   /"r   the  -sake  of   th? 

T  RT  r  T    OF    THF     <iTj  TV  OW  arSuraent>  let  1C   be   conceded  that  they 

J.  K1L  I     Ob     JJJJi,    SI  AIL   Ob    have  proposed  to  send  commissioners  to 

ALABAMA.  ,  Washington    "to  open   irregular  nego- 

Fellow  citizens:  A  serious  question  of   tiations   for   peace."     These    coiumis- 

propriety  has  arisen  between  me  and 'he    sioners   mi 'lit    be   sent   with    no   other. 

House   of   Representatives,    of  which   1    power  than  to  confer  and  consult  with 

deem   it   my  duty    to-  advise  you,  and    the   authorities    there   on   terms  of  an 

which  will  be  betier  explained  by  an  ex-    honorable   peace,    with    instructions   to 

animation  of  the  following  proceedings  of  report  the  results  of  such  conference  to 

the  House,   as  published  in  the  Sentinel    the  President  and  to  this  House.     Such 


of  the  17th  instant,  to  which  I  invite 
your  attention : 

Mr.  Orr,  under  leave  of  the  House, 
rose  to  a  personal  explanation.  He  had 
the  Clerk  to  read  an  article  from  t\\eSen~ 
tinel  of  the  14th  instant,  headed 
"Treason."     He  then  said: 

Mr.  Speaker,  the  editor  of  this   paper 


negotiations  would  be  "irregular"  and 
yet  they  might,  I  think  would,  if  rati- 
fied by  the  treaty-making  power,  secure 
an  honorable  and  satisfactory  peace. — , 
Who  but  a  madman  would  denounce 
these  means-and  this  result  " as  treachery 
of  the  mostinfamous  character"  ? 

From  the^supposed  relationship  of  this 


is  the  public  and  private  printertof  this  |  journal  to    iiien    in   power,   it  may  have 


House,  and  it  is  the  commonly  received 
organ  of  the  Executive.  This  is  my 
apology  for  noticing  the  slanderous  ar- 
ticle which  I  have  had  the  Clerk  to  read. 
It  is  apparent  to  this  House,  and  to  those 
who  are  familiar  with  our  proceedings, 
that  the  article  is  intended  as  a  criticism 
upon  the  report  from  the  Committee  on 
Foreign  Affairs,  submitted  by  me  on  "last 
Thursday.  It  is  no  less,  then,,  than  a 
grave  charge  of  treason  against  that  com- 
mittee, and  an  implication  of  like  import 
ajrainst  the  members  of  this  House, 
who  were  cognizant  of  the  substance 
of  the  report,  and  voted  to  receive 
it  in  secret  session.  1  trust  that  the 
reputation  of  the  members  composing 
the  committee  is  sufficient  to  satisfy  the 
country  that  the  article  is  false-  and  slan- 
derous. The  deliberations  of  the  com- 
mittee upon  the  leport  were  presided 
over  by  the  venerable,  pure  and  distin- 
guished member  from  Virginia,  Mr.  Rives 
Would  he  have  so  presided,  from  week 
to  week,  where  treason  was  plotted  ? — 
Would  he  have  voted,  as  he  did  in  open 
session,  to  go  into  secret  session  to  .re- 
ceive that  report  ?  Would  his  colleague 
(Mr.  De  Jarnette) ;  General  Atkins,  of 
Tennessee;'  Mr.  Witherspoon,  of  South 
Carolina  ;  Mr.  Turner,  of  North  Carolina, 
and  Mr.  Smith,  of  Alabama,  have  given 
their  sanction  to  a  ■'  treasonable"  report ? 
Are  they  capable  of  "  treachery  of  the 
most  vrifwmovs  character"  ?  Are  they 
"'traitorous  Congressmen^  ?  Can  it  be  that 
they  have  brought  forward  "a  disorderly, 
ruinous  anSftifial  proposition" — "  repre 
hensible  and  intolerable,"'  and  having 
"neither  dignity,  honor  nor  safety"  in 
it?  Rut  of  the  Virginia  delegation, 
Messrs.  Rives  and  He  Jarnette  were  not 
alone  in  voting  to  receive  the  port :  Mr. 
Wickham,  Mr.  Baldwin  and  Mr.  McMul- 
lin  voted  with  them,  aware,  at  the  time, 
of  its  substance ;  and  thus  they,  too,  fe.l 
under  the  rod  of  the  power  behind  the 
throne  of  the  Sentinel. 

In    refuting-  this     calumny    against 
members  of  this   House,  it   is   unneces- 
sary to  divulge  the  contents  of  the  re- 
port, or  the  action  of  the  House  thereon, 
although  it   is   with   me  (as  announced 
when  I  presented  it)-a  matter  of  indif- 
ference whether  it  should  be  considered 
}n  open   or  secret  session.     If  the  wri- 
ter of  the   article  ever    saw   the  resolu- 
tions, he  has   knowingly  falsified  them. 
If  he  has  not  seen   them,  but  supposes 
them  to  be  as  he  states,  then,  according 
to  his  own  report,  he  betrays  gross  igno- 
^f-rance  in  asserting  that  "a  resolution  to 
*~)  open    irregular    negotiations,    through 
coidiiiUsioners,    with    Mr.    Lincoln   for 
Kj  peace"   would   constitute    treason,   and" 
~  %  greater  criminality   in  presuming  to  ar- 
-')  raign  worthy  and  patriotic  men  for  some- 
thing of   which   he  is   ignorant.     Whv 


been  intended,  in  indulging  in  bitter  de 
nunciation,  to  have  the  effect  of  intimi- 
dating the  advocates  of  an  honorable  and 
peaceful  settlement  of  the  war.  If  this 
was  the  design,  allow  me  to  assure  you, 
Mr.  Speaker,  that  a  greater  mistake  was 
never  mad*g.  Denunciation  will  be  met 
by  defiance.  This  movement  is  not  in 
the  hands  of  timid  or  time  serving  men. 
Sustained,  as  they  are,  by  a  volume  of 
sentiment  in  the  country  and  in  the  arm)', 
and  by  their  own  sense  of  duly,  they  are 
determined  that,  in  some  form,  the  states- 
manship of  the  country  shall  be  invoked 
in  an  honest  effort  to  end  this  carnival  of 
death  by  negotiation. 

'The  Sentinel  thinks  it  "foolish,  trea- 
sonable ami  ruinous"  for  this  House  to 
send  commissioners  to  Washington,  with 
powers  limited,  as  prescribed.  This  is  to 
assume  that  no  terms  could  be  obtained 
which  would  not  be  "  ruinous  "  Is  there 
any  reason  for  this  as>umption  ?  That 
journal  professed  a-ft-w  days  since,  to 
abolish  slavery  for  foreign  intervention. 
Whoisauthorized  to  say  that  better  terms 
cannot  be  obtained  from  the  United 
States?  Who  is  authorized  to  say  th;it 
terms  could  not  be  agreed  upon  with 
them  without  abolition  or  reconstruc- 
tion? We  certainly  could  make  it  to 
their  interest  to  recognize  us  as  an  inde- 
pendent "people  without  involving  either 
slaver)'  or  reconstruction  ;  and  nations 
usually  follow  their  interest.  The  ques- 
tion of  reconstruction,  however,  does  not 
arise  in  the  proposition  to  negotiate,  and 
1  shall  not,  therefore,  discuss  it 

Nor  is  it  "foolixh  oi  treasonable,"  and 
I  will  add  that  it  is  neither  impolitic  nor 
unmanly,  while  we  are  gathering  up 
all  our  military  strength  to  meet  the 
enemy,  to  resort  to  every  laudable 
and  proper  effort  to  give  peace  to  a  dis- 
tracted and  bleeding  country  by  negotia- 
tion. On  the  contrary,  the  statesman 
who  would  refuse  to  do  this  is  a  hideous 
moral  deformity. 

When  Mr.  Orr  had  finished  reading 
the  foregoing, 

Mr.  Lester,  of  Georgia,  moved  to  sus- 
pend the  rules  in  order  to  allow  him  to 
introduce  the  following  resolution  : 

Whereas,  on  the  14th  of  this  mc  nth, 
there  appeared  in  the  columns  of  the 
Richmond  Sentinel  a  correspondence 
over  the  signature  of  "Q,"  and  headed 
with  the,  words,'  "Treason,  Treason, 
Treason,"  printed  in  conspicuous  capi- 
tals, and  marked  with  points  of  excla- 
mation, in  which  the  writer  announced 
that  it  was  rumored  on  the  street  that 
there  was  a  resolution  before  Congress, 
in  secret  session,  to  "open  irregular  ne- 
gotiations, through  commissioners,  with 
Lincoln  for  peace,"  and  asserting  that 
such  a  proceecing  ..was  "  not  only  trea- 
son,    but,     under     the     circumstances, 


treachery  of  the  most  infamous  charac- 
ter," and  avowing  that  "  the  people  of 
Virginia  certainly,"  and,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  writer,  "  the  people  of  the  Con- 
federacy generally,  would"  not  allow 
themselves  to  be  sold  by  traitorous  Con-, 
gressmen  after  this  fashion"  ; 

And  whereas,  the  said  correspondence 
was  accompanied  by  an  approving  edi- 
torial, characterised  by  the  same  tone  and 
spirit  as  the  correspondence  itself; 

And  whereas,  the  said  correspondence 
and  editorial,  headed  and  paraded  as 
aforesaid,  are  calculated  to  mislead  the 
publicjudgment,  and, in  their  temper  and 
spirit,  impute  to  Congress  folly,  disloy- 
alty, treason  and  treachery,  be  it  there- 
fore 

Resolved,  That,  so  far  as  the  state- 
i  ments  and  imputations  contained  in  the 
said  correspondence  ar.d  editorial  were 
intended  to  apply  to  this  branch  of 
Congress,  they  are  false  in  fact  and  in- 
ference ;  are  an  infringement  of  the 
privileges  of  its  members;  and  merit  the 
emphatic  rebuke  and  unqualified  denun- 
ciations of  this  House. 

The  motion  to  suspend,  to  allow  the 
introduction  of  the  resolution,  result- 
ed—  ayes,  82;  noes,  36. 

A  two  thirds  vote  being  required  to 
suspend  the  rules,  the  resolution  was  not 
introduced. 

When  this  was  announced,  I  felt  ex- 
tremely it  dignant.  You  will  appreciate 
my  feelings  when  I  say  that,  being  a 
member  of  the  assailed  committee,  look- 
ing upon  the  House  as  the  natural  guar- 
dian of  that  committee,  and  of  all  its 
committees,  1  expected  protection,  and 
not  abandonment. 

I- immediately  determined  to  withdraw 
from  the  House,  not  willing  to  sit  there 
under  the  shadow  of  an  impeachment. 
In  pursuance  of  this  determination,-  I 
said : 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  should  not,  myself, 
have  paid  any  attention  to  the  article  in 
the  .  entinel.  I  should  have  allowed  it 
to  pass  in  silence,  as  1  have  ever  made 
it  a  rule  of  action  to  let  editors  alone. 
But  the  vote  of  this  House,  in  refusing 
to  allow  the  introduction  of  the  resolu- 
tion of  the  gentleman  from  Georgia  (Mr. 
Lester)  places  this  matter  in  a  more  se- 
rious aspect.  I  consider  that  vote  as,  to 
some  extent,  endorsing  the  Sentinel.  As 
long  as  that  vote  stands  as  the  sense  of 
this  body,  I  can  take  no  part  in  its  deli- 
berations. 'I  say  thi,s  in  perfect  respect 
to  the  members  here  ;  and  I  do  not  wish 
my  withdrawal  to  be  considered  as  at  all 
contemptuous,  but  dictated  solely  by  that 
self-respect  which  I  feel,  and  by  which 
I  have,  through  life,  endeavored  to  be  go- 
verned. 

I  accordingly  withdrew  from  the  House, 
and  have  no*t  since  attended  its  meetings. 
I  appreciate  the  delicacy  of  my  posi- 
tion ;  and,  holding  myself  as  responsible 
to  you  alone  for  my  course  en  the  occa- 
sion, I  expect  to  return  home  as  soon  as 
I  can  close  up  my  business  here,  and 
will  hold  myself  ready  to  act  in  accord- 
ance to  your  wishes.  ' 

The  article  in  the  Sentinel  did  not  re- 
fer to  me  in  person,  or  to  any  individual 
member  of  the  House,  but  was  a  sweep- 
ing charge  against  those  members  of 
Congress  who  favored  the  proposed  peace 
measure.  .What  that  measure  is,  I  am 
not  at  liberty  to  say;  but,  as  your  re- 
presentative, I  am  under  the  deepest 
conviction  that  there  are  not  one  hundred 
men  in  the  district  who  would  object  to 
it.         I  have  the  honor  to  be 

Your  obedient  servant, 

W.  R.  Smith. 
Ricumoxi),  January  20,  1803. 


C;v 


